Following several years of hype and some debate over competing concepts, the marketing cloud is becoming a reality. Companies such as PR Newswire are seeing an increase in leads and engagement through the integration of marketing activities under the marketing cloud.

Personalization is among the key benefits of marketing clouds, as they offer B2B marketers the ability to collect data on how prospects are interacting with the company through their buying journey. Marketers can track and access prospect insights from a central location, where the data can be leveraged for a range of marketing activities.

During his presentation as part of the Demand Gen Summit track at the B2B Content2Conversion Conference, Jason Hekl — VP and Group Director of SiriusDecisions — described the concept of “small-net fishing,” in which marketers proactively target narrowly defined groups of new prospects.

His remarks mirrored the strategies of many speakers and attendees who are moving toward micro-campaigns and more targeted messaging to smaller subsets of their databases.

Demand generation is a crucial aspect of today's B2B marketing routine, and the fluid landscape of the B2B buying cycle causes marketing teams to continually adapt and reorganize the way organizations drive awareness to the products and services they offer.

At the upcoming B2B Content2Conversion Conference/Demand Gen Summit, Jason Hekl, VP and Group Director of SiriusDecisions, will present a keynote session that will dive into how the next generation of demand generation is beginning take place — and what tools, insights and strategies marketers will need in order to drive success.

As marketing automation technology continues to evolve, many B2B marketers are still looking to perfect their strategies for segmentation and enhancing lead quality. As a result, many are honing their metrics to improve on these critical marketing tasks.

Nearly one third (62%) of B2B marketing executives state that improving their ability to measure and analyze marketing impact is one of their biggest demand generation priorities, according to the 2015 Demand Gen Report Benchmark Study.

All B2B marketers want to keep the sales funnel filled with top-notch leads. But many factors — including the target industry, complexity of the sales cycle and size of the marketing and sales teams — can determine the success of a company’s lead generation efforts. As a result, many firms turn to third parties to ensure a continuous flow of prospects.

One such company is Indiana Fluid Power (IFP), a provider of fluid power, motion control and automation systems for the industrial and mobile OEM marketplace. The company tapped LeadJen to help gather new prospects and setup briefings for its sales reps. Three months into the partnership, IFP was able to close a $500,000 deal and had several other opportunities in the pipeline.

Peer recommendations are growing much more valuable in today’s B2B buying world. In response, B2B companies are beginning to find value in review systems, which can offer deep insights into how customers are leveraging their solutions or services.

Rev.com, an online audio transcription and document translation services provider, tapped Trustpilot to begin developing a way to enhance the overall value of customer reviews on the company’s services — while also growing their organic and paid search presence. The partnership led to 12% lift in click-through rates, and an increase in star ratings for AdWords placements.

While the role of digital marketing grows more prominent, in-person events continue to receive a significant portion of overall B2B marketing budgets. According to Forrester, trade shows still constitute the biggest line item on a B2B marketers budget, with nearly 20% of spend being committed to live events.

While progressive B2B marketers are seeking to measure the overall return on their investment in events, the numbers can be elusive, according to Laura Cross, Research Director for Demand Generation Strategies at SiriusDecisions. “It's difficult because marketers are being asked to prove the value from more than just a marketer's point-of-view. There has to be less focus on how many people are there, and more focus on the overall experience of the event.”

B2B companies are increasingly relying on highly targeted and personalized messaging to reach prospective buyers. To accomplish this, progressive marketers are developing more detailed buyer personas to gain deeper insight into their target audiences and boost responses from their lead nurturing campaigns.

Demand Gen Report’s Lead Nurturing Benchmarking Study shows that 66% of B2B marketers are challenged with developing targeted content by buyer interest and stage in the sales funnel.